


Darling Don't You Ever Grow Up

by Liyyah



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Tony Stark Feels, Valentine's Day, morgan likes girls because i was projecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 03:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17758721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liyyah/pseuds/Liyyah
Summary: Tony has a lot of feelings about his little girl growing up.





	Darling Don't You Ever Grow Up

Tony made his way up from the lab, head still filled with the specs for Peter’s newest suit. FRIDAY’s reminder to eat had broken him out of his haze, forcing him to leave his work behind for a little while. He knew if he ignored his AI he would soon be met with an appearance by Morgan, standing with her arms crossed and a disapproving look she had gotten from her mother.

As Tony headed to the kitchen, he caught sight of the teenager herself, sitting cross-legged on the couch with furrowed eyebrows as she stared intently at…a jewellery box and a card? Pink kite paper also littered the space along with a gift bag with hearts all over it.

Oh no.

“Hey kiddo,” he said as cheerfully as possible as he walked towards her. “What you got there?”

“Dad!” she exclaimed in surprise. “Oh um…nothing it’s…it’s just nothing.”

Tony raised an eyebrow as he came to a stop in front of her.

“Okay it’s a Valentine for Cassie. But I don’t know if…the card might be too much I mean who even makes stuff like that still anyway right so I might just throw it away. And you know what the necklace too…I don’t think I’m gonna bother I’ll just return it or something I’m gonna put everything away,” she rambled all in one breath, already beginning to gather up her things.

“Whoa okay slow down,” Tony put a hand on her shoulder before she could bolt.

Once he was sure she wasn’t going to make a run for it, he sat down on the opposite end of the couch.

“Talk to me,” he gently persuaded.

Morgan sighed, looking up at the ceiling as she fidgeted with her hands. Tony remained silent, letting her find her words.

“What if she doesn’t like me the way I like her?” she finally spoke, her voice tiny as she met his eyes.

Anxiety was written all over her features and Tony could practically feel the nervousness radiating off her in waves. She was scared. It threatened to break him.

“You won’t know how she feels unless you tell her how you feel.”

Everything in him rebelled against the idea of his little girl giving her heart away to someone else because that was how hearts got broken but he pushed all of those feelings aside.

Instead he found himself focusing on her nails, the corner of his mouth quirking up a bit at the red and gold she loved to paint them in. A reminder of his old suits from another lifetime. Those had always been her favourite colours.

“There’s a chance that she won’t feel the same way you do,” he continued. “But it’s a risk you gotta take. Otherwise you’ll just end up pining for her from afar for who knows how long and let me tell you that’s not too fun either.”

She smiled at that, having heard countless stories from Happy about Tony and Pepper secretly making eyes at each other for years before finally getting together.

“And if she likes you too, I’ll be waiting with Celebratory Ice Cream when you get home from school tomorrow. And if she doesn’t, well it’ll just be Cheer Up Ice Cream instead.”

“Thanks dad,” she laughed softly, the sound dancing its way into his heart and lighting up his entire chest.

“You’re Morgan Stark. You’re one of the smartest, bravest and strongest people on the planet. And no, I’m not just saying that because you’re my kid,” he quickly added as she opened her mouth to no doubt make some smartass comment. “You got this.”

Taking a deep breath, she nodded, some of the confidence she inherited from both her parents coming back into her expression.

“You’re right. I got this.”

“When am I ever not right?” he grinned, as Morgan rolled her eyes in response.

“This sucks though,” she declared, vaguely gesturing at everything. “Feelings.”

A burst of laughter bubbled from Tony’s throat. Oh, she was _definitely_ his daughter.

“It does,” he agreed. “But then you find someone who loves you just as much as you love them, someone who makes you want to be better, who never gives up on you. You find someone who takes your breath away every time they walk into the room. Someone who makes it a little easier to breathe. A little easier to get up in the morning. You find someone who sees the darkest parts of you and chooses you anyway. And then one day that person becomes home. And everything…everything is worth it.”

“That sounds nice,” Morgan said quietly, her eyes a little watery which Tony pretended not to notice because she never liked people to see her cry.

“It is,” he replied tenderly. “It gave me you.”

Rising from his seat, he moved to stand next to her before bending over and planting a little kiss to the top of her head.

“You need any help with this?” he asked, looking once more at the little gifts.

“No,” she answered, staring up at him with an almost cocky smile. “I got it.”

“Alright then,” he said as he began making his way out of the room, food all but forgotten. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

“Dad?” she called out one last time.

Tony halted, turning around to look at her as he waited for her request.

“I love you,” she said softly instead.

Those three small words wrapped themselves around his very soul, blanketing him in sunshine. Tony had visited other planets and beheld space itself but nothing filled him with wonder like Morgan. Especially when she looked at him the way she did now, with pure affection shining through her features. That look made him feel as if maybe he did something right after all.

“Love you too honey,” he smiled at her.

Tony stared at her for a heartbeat longer before continuing on downstairs. As soon as he was back in the lab, he plopped down in front of his work station and pulled out his phone to frantically dial the one person that could keep him from completely freaking out.

“Hey Tony,” answered that beautiful familiar voice.

“Hi. Did you know that Morgan has a…crush?”

“Yeah. Cassie. She talks about her all the time,” Pepper replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well yeah she’s her best friend of course she talks about her all the time!” he exclaimed. “Wait. You knew about this? Why didn’t you ever mention it?”

“Because I knew you would spiral the way you’re doing right now.”

“I am not spiralling,” he huffed.

His wife remained silent, calling him on his bullshit without even uttering a sentence.

“Okay fine,” he grumbled, slumping forward in his seat. “Maybe I’m spiralling a little. But she’s too young to be having feelings!”

“She’s fifteen Tony,” Pepper laughed on the other end.

“Exactly!”

“Tony.”

He sighed, aware that he was being unreasonable but…he couldn’t help it.

“She’s my baby girl Pep,” he said softly.

“Mine too you know,” she replied. “But just because she’s growing up doesn’t mean that she’ll ever stop being our baby. We can’t stop her from getting older. But we can be there for her and support her as best as we can, just like we’ve always done.”

“I didn’t call for wisdom you know,” he mumbled, even though Pepper’s words had eased some of the ache within him.

“So why did you call?”

“To complain.”

Pepper’s laughter rang through the speakers and a smile automatically found its way to his face.

“Well that is what you’re best at,” she teased.

“I can think of a few other things I do better,” he smirked.

“Like bragging?”

“Ha ha,” he responded drily before lapsing into silence.

Pepper remained quiet too, probably guessing that there was something else bothering him than just the initial panic associated with his daughter growing up.

“I can’t protect her from a broken heart,” he finally voiced the thing that had been nagging at his brain ever since he caught sight of that pink gift bag.

Tony was still having panic attacks every few days when Morgan was born. He had tried to take care of Pepper as best as he could but his pregnant wife was usually the one with her arms wrapped around him while he threw up in the toilet after a bad episode. The world had collapsed around him and it was something he couldn’t come back from. He couldn’t stop seeing everyone around him turn to dust. He couldn’t stop feeling Peter disappearing in his arms. He felt like he should have died with them and then he almost did and suddenly it hit him just how much he wanted to _live_. So he fought. They all did. They went into battle together one last time but this was a fight that not everyone came out of. But despite the cost or maybe because of it, they had fixed what was broken.

Yet Tony couldn’t escape the nightmares.

Things _had_ improved and piece by piece he was repairing himself but when he held Morgan in his arms for the first time the earth threatened to unravel before him again. All he could see was dusty skies and lifeless eyes and in that moment he’d made a promise.

Holding his entire universe, Tony vowed that he would protect her for the rest of his life. That she would never know even half the pain that he had experienced. That she would be happy, truly happy, for her whole life and not just parts of it. There would be no threat too big or too small that would prevent Tony Stark from keeping his little girl safe.

“You can’t protect her from everything,” Pepper said a little sadly, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“I’m her father! Hell I used to be Iron Man! I should be able to,” he stated defiantly.

“It doesn’t work that way,” she said, ever the voice of reason. “Do you remember the first time she fell and skinned her knee? And how much you panicked?”

“To be fair that was a lot of blood.”

“We both know it wasn’t.”

“Okay but she was _screaming_ -”

“Because you were freaking out!” she interrupted. “Anyway when you finally calmed down what did you do?”

“I watched The Little Mermaid with her and fed her _a_ _lot_ of cookies to make her feel better.”

“You fed yourself a lot of cookies too.”

“Details.”

Pepper snorted.

“You know what really made her feel better though right? It wasn’t the cookies or the movie. It was you. Being there with her. Being there _for_ her. She got hurt but you were there for her after and that’s what mattered. That’s what made her feel safe. There’s going to be times where she gets hurt because that’s a part of life. You can’t stop it. But you _can_ make things a little better.”

Tony swallowed a lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat before taking a breath.

“You’re right.”

“I always am,” she said smugly, mirroring his own words to Morgan only moments ago.

“Don’t you have a meeting or something to go to?”

“I actually do but I’ve been too busy over here holding your hand.”

“Alright go,” Tony said rolling his eyes. “And kick some ass.”

“Oh, I always do. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

Hanging up, Tony let Pepper’s words linger in his mind for a little while. Morgan was going to go out into the world one day and face heartbreak and rejection and other terrible things that no one, not even him, was able to control. It terrified him like nothing else. But Pepper was right. All he could do was be there for her. And he would be. Whether she was five or fifteen, Tony would always be waiting with open arms and a shoulder to cry on and whatever her favourite dessert happened to be at the moment.

Before resuming his work on the latest Spidey Suit, Tony asked FRIDAY to double check the order of roses he’d placed for Morgan. He might have some competition now but Tony had been Morgan’s very first Valentine and he didn’t plan on quitting getting her flowers and chocolates anytime soon.

After all, she would always be his baby girl.

**Author's Note:**

> I lowkey hate this lmao but whatever. I told myself I would never write Tony and Pepper because I'd never be able to do them justice but this scene popped into my head one day and refused to leave me alone so. Thanks for reading this mess I appreciate it.


End file.
